461161 - Linkf from Thunderbird open new Minefield

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[John Liebson]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1b2pre) Gecko/20081022 Minefield/3.1b2pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1b2pre) Gecko/20081022 Minefield/3.1b2pre

(I apologize if this is a duplicate, as I'm quite uncertain how to search for this specific problem.)

Clicking a link in Thunderbird, version 2.0.0.17 opens a new instance of Minefield, instead of the currently-running one; if Minefield is not running, then clicking a link opens Minefield.

In both cases, there is a problem: While Minefield opens, using my only profile assigned to Minefield, nearly all of my extensions are inactive, and shown as incompatible.

I suspect that the problem is Vista-related, as someone on MozillaZine, replying to my query posted that TB links work correctly with Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1b2pre) Gecko/20081021 Firefox/2.0.0.11 and, if I remember correctly, Windows NT 5.1 is not Vista.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Click on any link in Thunderbird, see "Details" above for what happens
2.
3.
Actual Results:  
See "Details"

Expected Results:  
Either the link should open in a running instance of Minefield, or open Minefield if no running instance, and extensions should be working.

Comment 1

[John Liebson]

I just found that the problem also exists in the reverse direction: With TB running, right-click on a page in Minefield and select "Send Link".

A message pops up, "Thunderbird is already running but is not responding. To open a new window, you must close the existing Thunderbird process or restart your system."

If you click on "OK," Thunderbird is closed and the TB compose module opens with the link you are trying to send. 

You have to restart TB itself after sending the link message.

Comment 2

[IU]

If you get the message:

"Thunderbird is already running but is not responding. To
open a new window, you must close the existing Thunderbird process or restart
your system."

first check Windows Task Manager to make sure there are no instances of Thunderbird running.  If there aren't any, it's possible you have a default profile defined for which there is no corresponding profile folder.  Do the following:

Open "%APPDATA%\Thunderbird\Profiles.ini" and check the following:
1. [General]: make sure this is: StartWithLastProfile=0
2. [Profile#]: check your "Profiles" subfolder to make sure each defined profile has a corresponding profile folder.  Otherwise, delete each orphaned [Profile#] group.  You can also manage this using Profile Manager: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager

Open "%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles.ini" and check the following:
1. [General]: make sure this is: StartWithLastProfile=0
2. [Profile#]: check your "Profiles" subfolder to make sure each defined profile has a corresponding profile folder.  Otherwise, delete each orphaned [Profile#] group

If you want to have multiple profiles, it's better that you use this method for selecting profiles: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager#Shortcut_to_a_specific_profile

Otherwise, make sure that, whenever you want to delete a profile, you either use Profile Manager or you edit the Profile.ini to remove any orphaned profile for which you have removed its folder.

Comment 3

[John Liebson]

In reply to Comment #2:

First of all, while I thank you, I'm quite familiar with all of this, and none of it applies.

Second, and truly strange, a few minutes ago, I created a new Minefield profile, started Minefield, clicked in TB, was taken to the running copy of Minefield rather than to a new one. Closed Minefield, clicked again, it worked.

Closed Minefield, clicked, chose regular profile, that worked.

Closed Minefield, clicked, selected "Don't ask" in Profile Manager, that worked.

Clicked on an image in Minefield, said "send link", was taken to the TB compose module with TB already running.

In fact, as of right now, my Bugzilla entry appears to be superfluous, as things are working properly. Why the creation of a new profile, and then a reversion to using the older one, might have fixed the problem, I have NO idea whatsoever.

I'm going to leave this bug open for a while. I want, for example, to see what happens when I restart Vista, which I don't have time for right now. If/when I determine that whatever the problem was no longer exists, I'll change the bug report.

Comment 4

[John Liebson]

I've marked this as Resolved/Works for Me, because, after restarting Vista, links to and from Minefield and Thunderbird continue to work properly.